Creative Research Methods Collection
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Creative Research Methods Collection
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This chapter traces the parallels between the aims and practices of both researchers and fiction writers and on this basis establishes the potential benefits of combining the two. It discusses the works of some well-known researchers from both science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and humanities backgrounds who have also produced fiction. The chapter outlines how the use of fiction in research can refer to ‘fictionalisation’ (adding invented details to empirical data), ‘fictional thinking’ (asking ‘what if?’ questions) and/or ‘works of fiction’ (such as short stories, novels or plays). The chapter introduces the definition of fiction used throughout the book and highlights some core components shared by many works of fiction. Finally, it outlines the book’s structure, which is loosely based on the archetypal ‘hero’s journey’.
Chapter 1 introduces the transformative potential of poetry within higher education, exploring its benefits across various disciplines. It discusses overcoming challenges in integrating poetry, supported by practical strategies and diverse case studies. This chapter sets the stage for understanding how poetry can enrich teaching and learning experiences, advocating for a holistic, emotionally intelligent approach to higher education.
I sketch out the historical beginnings of photovoice before I outline some of the strengths and weaknesses of photovoice as they have been reported in literature. I conclude this chapter with a reframing of photovoice, which forms the foundational principle for the remainder of this book.
As the first book in the new series Advances in Biographical Research this edited collection discusses biographical research within the context of the new social architectures that have emerged since the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, the chapters reflect upon the creative and imaginative application of biographical methods in the current context, while also building upon the long history and intellectual legacy of the European Sociological Association’s Research Network (RN03): ‘Biographical Perspectives on European societies’. A key message of the book is that societal responses to the pandemic have created new ‘social architectures’ characterised by physical distancing and isolation, social fragmentation, increased risks of trauma and vulnerability including fractures to the biographical trajectory. One of the innovative aspects of the volume is its emphasis upon the impact of doing biographical research upon the researchers themselves. Acknowledging that researchers are not ‘faceless interviewers’ is crucial to understand that, on the one hand, the way they deal, at an autobiographical level, with the research affects all stages of the study, and, on the other hand, the research can have a direct influence on their personal perspectives, emotions and actions, as well as on their scientific practices. The authors carefully weigh the pros and cons of the move to online interviewing, while bearing in mind ‘immersion’ in the situation caused by COVID-19. Written by both experienced and early career biographical researchers this volume demonstrates how biographical research responds to the new ‘social architectures’: theoretically, methodologically, and empirically.
The life I lived beyond academia as a scientist, therapist, teacher, and artist taught me lessons about intention and impact imperative for all qualitative researchers, particularly those using creative and embodied methods. It showed me how art, education, therapy, and qualitative research share borders and lie adjacent to science. Part I sets out the structure of this book, and acts as an introduction to the qualitative, creative, and embodied research methods I use, why I use them, and my reflective and autoethnographic approach.
This chapter introduces the book by looking at the role of the researcher and examining the skills and characteristics that make a good one. It discusses the various reasons for doing research and includes a comparison of insider and outsider research. Some of the issues that can arise in managing or commissioning research are explored, such as establishing research aims, identifying suitable methods and methodology, allocating resources and project communication. There is a short discussion of the terminology used in the book and more generally in the field of social research. An overview of the changes introduced in this third edition is provided and the chapter concludes with an outline of the book, an introduction to the two case studies that run through the book, plus exercises, discussion questions and a debate topic.
Since the mid-2010s, virtual reality (VR) technology has advanced rapidly. This book explores the many opportunities that VR can offer for humanities and social sciences researchers.
The book provides a user-friendly, non-technical methods guide to using ready-made VR content and 360° video as well as creating custom materials. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to using VR, providing helpful, real-world examples of how researchers have used the technology. The insights drawn from this analysis will inspire scholars to explore the possibilities of using VR in their own research projects.
The connection between arts and social work is a rapidly developing area. However, the specific advantages of arts-based research for social work have yet to be articulated. In research in general, arts are defined as less important than words, or numbers – a leitmotif, or illustration (Martinez-Brawley et al., 1997). Often ‘art’ is experienced as the opposite of ‘science’ and thus the opposite of ‘evidence’. In social work specifically, arts are experienced as a luxury, an illustration rather than content, peripheral rather than the ‘on the ground’ problems that social work deals with. Often social workers feel that they have not been trained in the arts and so cannot use it. This is based on a misunderstanding of what social art is. Indeed, arts-based research is most traditionally connected to education, where the use of images is a natural language for children (Eisner, 1997). Of late, however, we see a ‘visual turn’ in social sciences in general, and also in social work practice and research. This includes the use of community art, Photovoice, outsider art, arts for social change, arts and health, arts to humanise institutions, de-stigmatise minorities, and to give voice to silenced groups (Chamberlyne & Smith, 2008; Huss, 2012, Huss & Bos, 2019). This has extended the use of arts-based research in social work. This book aims to capture this promising process. It will show how arts-based research is in fact an especially effective methodology to embody, and will articulate many of the epistemological aims of, social work research.
Within the social sciences, anyone who has ever undertaken or been involved in research, or who has attended courses and workshops on research methods, will have been told about maintaining a research log, journal or diary. Research methods handbooks also mention logs, journals or diaries (see, for example, Hatch, 2002; Hahn, 2008; Shaw and Holland, 2014; Silverman, 2017; Forrester and Sullivan, 2018). Mostly, we are told to keep a journal to record our reflections on positionality for a reflexivity statement, our thought processes involved in narrowing down research topics, and to maintain our fieldnotes more generally. Yet, there is no specific guidance and support on how to keep an effective research diary, which notes to take, or what to do with our entries in a research journal. While research logs, like other forms of journalling, require regularity and consistency, in practice, many of us feel under pressure to produce entries that are also relevant and appropriate. Consequently, many of us give up on our research logs early on, only to realise later in our research journey that some notes or entries would or could have been useful.
This book does not claim to be exhaustive. Instead, it should be used as a stepping-stone towards making better use of research journals. With this book, I hope to inspire you regarding the form, format and content of a research journal, to experiment with less conventional approaches alongside more traditional paths. I hope to offer you the confidence you need to be able to trust your own instincts and to challenge and break free from existing paradigms and schools of thought.
This chapter introduces multiple approaches to creative research methods and their use in education research. Creativity and creative thinking will be explored in creative research as ways to help make new knowledge and to challenge assumptions and expectations of what creative research methods can do (Ellsworth, 2005; Gauntlett, 2007; Thomson and Hall, 2008; Barone and Eisner, 2012; Harris, 2014; Pauwels and Mannay, 2020). Creative methodologies in education research will be introduced. We invite you to read the chapters in order, or to jump in and out, reading back and forth, or to use a chapter as a touch point while working on your research project. The case studies are examples to help you think through key questions and responses in the developing and doing of research. The last chapter has four activities to help you develop, generate and reflect on your way of doing creative research. In each chapter we offer case studies that show how creative methods can work in practice; however, this does not mean all research projects have to work in these ways.
Within education research, different disciplinary approaches influence the ways in which creative research is practised (Cahnmann-Taylor and Siegesmund, 2008; Smith and Dean, 2009; Barrett and Bolt, 2010; O’Toole and Beckett, 2010; Thomson and Sefton-Green, 2011; Nelson, 2013; Naughton et al, 2018). This book includes arts-based research, digitally mediated research, mobile methods, place-based research and transformative research frameworks such as participatory, feminist and activist research. As evaluation research is a key topic in contemporary education disciplines, we discuss what creative research methods can do to help question assumptions and expectations.
